Greco-Roman draw released for U20 World Championships in Pontevedra, Spain

PONTEVEDRA, Spain – The Greco-Roman brackets have been released for the 2024 U20 World Championships, which begin tomorrow in Pontevedra, Spain. 10 Americans will take the mats in search of a prestigious age-group World medal.

Round one at 67 kg opens with a heater between two past U17 World champions as U.S. medal favorite Joel Adams has been paired against Imed Khudzhadze of Ukraine. Adams topped the U17 World podium two years ago and participated in last year’s U20 Worlds, unable to medal. Khudzhadze was a 2021 U17 World and European champion.

The winner between Adams and Khudzhadze would be favored in the next round against Poland’s Piotr Skalik, but would have tough outs the rest of the way. A quarterfinal contest against U20 European bronze medalist Rati Khozrevanidze of Georgia or U20 Asian silver medalist Yussuf Ashrapov, both of whom are U17 World medalists, appears likely. U20 European champion Grair Oganeian, an individual neutral athlete, is the favorite to be Adams semifinal opponent should he get there.

2022 U20 World bronze medalist Aden Attao is looking to get back on the podium after falling short in Amman, Jordan, last year. He’ll have to be ready out of the gate with Hungary’s talented Laszlo Darabos standing as his first opponent at 130 kg. Darabos was a 2022 U17 World silver medalist, 2023 U20 European champion, and finished in fifth place at the 2024 Zagreb Open Ranking Series event on the Senior level.

A win for Attao moves him to the round-of-16 against Ethan Vergara of Puerto Rico. At the U20 Pan American championships earlier this summer Attao won gold while Vergara was bronze. The two did not wrestle at the event.

Two-time U17 World champion Cemal Bakir of Turkey or U20 European champion Saba Chilashvili of Georgia would be the likely quarterfinal opponent for Attao. The other side of Attao’s half bracket appears to be Aleksandr Melekhov’s to lose. The individual neutral athlete was fifth at last year’s U20 Worlds.

The third age-group World medalist for Team USA, Cory Land, gets a nice draw in the opening round at 60 kg against Ilias Zairakis of Greece. However, the competition ratchets up quickly for Land, with 2024 U20 European champion Papik Dzhavadian, an individual neutral athlete, up next.

Two former U17 World Team representatives are back for more at the U20 level—Otto Black at 63 kg and Ryder Rogotzke at 87 kg. Black, who was fifth at the 2021 U17 Worlds, will face either Dejan Berkec of Serbia or Matej Rebic of Croatia in the round-of-16. Rogotzke takes on two-time U20 European medalist Patrik Gordan of Romania, winner advancing to the round-of-16 against Iran’s Mohammad Seydi Avendi.

American Aydin Rix McElhinney is staring down a potential first match against returning U20 World champion Alireza Abdevali of Iran at 77 kg. Abdevali must beat China’s Jixin Yu to set the match with Rix McElhinney.

Other U.S. Greco-Roman participants include Isaiah Cortez at 55 kg, Patrick Brackett at 72 kg, Arian Khosravy at 82 kg and Soren Herzog at 97 kg. Initial opponents for each U.S. wrestler can be found below.

The Greco-Roman portion of the U20 World Championships will be held Sept. 2-4. Women’s freestyle and men’s freestyle will follow later in the week. Greco-Roman action begins at 10 a.m. local time each day. Pontevedra, Spain, is located six hours ahead of U.S. Eastern Time.

The U.S. will compete in two groups over the course of the Greco-Roman event. Group one, which starts on Sept. 2, is comprised of Cortez, Black, Rix McElhinney, Rogotzke and Attao. Group two starts a day later, featuring Land, Adams, Brackett, Khosravy and Herzog.

A full set of brackets and match-by-match results is available on UWW Arena. A live broadcast of the event is available for the U.S. market at FloWrestling.com.

Stay tuned to TheMat.com and USA Wrestling’s social media platforms for complete coverage of the U20 World Championships.